David Beckham will miss England's friendly against Brazil next week after his
American club Los Angeles Galaxy beat Chivas USA in the Major League Soccer
Western Conference semi-finals.

The 35 year-old was named in Fabio Capello's 24-man squad but would only have joined up with the squad had Galaxy been knocked out of the MLS play-offs. As a result of the victory over Chivas, David Beckham will remain in the States to play host to Houston Dynamo on Friday.

Success at the end of the week would signal Galaxy's most successful campaign since Beckham joined in 2007.

His influence was notable in last night's victory which was decided by Landon Donovan’s 73rd minutes penalty.

Beckham helped make the play possible with a pass to Donovan. Donovan then crossed the ball to attacker Mike Magee who was hauled down, earning a penalty kick from ref Ricardo Salazar.

Five minutes after Donovan's goal, Galaxy supporters looked on nervously as Beckham was forced to withdraw himself from the match having struggled after picking up a knock to his lower back.

Ice was strapped on the problem area and the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder watched the remainder of the match from the bench.

Houston had reached the conference final earlier in the day with a 1-0 home win over Freddie Ljungberg's Seattle Sounders. Brian Ching's stoppage-time winner had been the only game of the two-legged tie and brought to an end a successful inaugural season for the Sounders.

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Fire progressed at the expense of the New England Revolution and will face Real Salt Lake, who knocked out defending MLS champions Columbus Crew on Friday.